Ray Earwicker on greater public scrutiny of MPs expenses

10.15.20pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 4th Aug 2008

Below is a letter send to the local press from Ray Earwicker.

Dear Sir

The views expressed by local residents in a recent straw poll conducted by Mike Pyle (Standard, 24 July) are indicative of many who are increasingly fed up with elected representatives, and MPs in particular, awarding themselves unjustified increases in pay and allowances.

Although MPs eventually settled for a modest increase of only 2.25% this year, they quickly sought to recover as much ground as possible by raising the annual Inner London allowance to £7,500 from £2,916 and allowing MPs representing outer London constituencies to continue to claim the full Additional Costs Allowance of £24000 (instead of half, as recommended by the latest Members' review of MPs expenses).

The average pay and allowances of MPs is now over £140,000 a year and when they leave office they can also claim a winding up allowance of up to £37,000 to cover the cost of any outstanding Parliamentary business and a resettlement allowance of between 50% and 100% of their annual salary, depending on age and length of service.

The need for greater public scrutiny of MPs expenses has never been greater and Andrew MacKay's refusal to support the latest proposals, which had the backing of David Cameron and the entire Shadow Cabinet, was entirely in keeping I believe with his previous voting record on such issues. It also shows a complete disregard for public opinion. His opposition to the latest proposals simply on the grounds that he could not accept one small part of the package is not very convincing and remains completely unjustified in my view. This was an opportunity to try and restore some public faith in our elected representatives and the Parliamentary process and it was an opportunity missed.

Ray Earwicker

Parliamentary Spokesperson

Bracknell Liberal Democrats.